They're back.
Those long lines of orange barrels, constricting rows of concrete walls, and diamond-shaped "Road Work Ahead" signs have popped up again all along the highways and byways we travel every day.
With their arrival comes increased traffic congestion and the temptation by some drivers to take unnecessary and unsafe chances behind the wheel.
"In a work zone, patience behind the wheel has to be Priority One," says Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Assns., the nation's largest trucking industry trade and safety group. "Sooner or later, the work zone will end. A split-second burst of aggressive driving in a cramped construction area just isn't worth the often-tragic consequences."
For safety's sake, and to help motorists, Graves' group polled its team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers for their common sense advice on how to safely navigate work zones:
-- Double your usual following distance. Without it, you won't have time to safely react to warnings or hazards like debris or potholes that suddenly pop out from under the vehicle ahead.
-- Get into the correct lane well in advance.
-- Where traffic is merging into a single lane, be extremely cautious of cars racing to get ahead of slowing traffic. Truck drivers call these unsafe motorists "zippers," after the way they zip in and out of slowing traffic, endangering other motorists who are obeying the work zone signs.
-- Pay close attention to operating construction equipment while in a work zone. You never know their next move, so be ready to stop.
-- Remember, most work zone traffic lanes are narrow and don't have shoulders or emergency lanes due to the use of barrels and concrete barricades.
-- Where a temporary median crossover is used, drivers beware: Uneven or sloped road surfaces can dramatically affect handling and stability.
-- Drivers should report an absence of signs, or poor signage, to the appropriate highway department.
The professional truck drivers say "zippers" likely never think of how they are endangering themselves, their families or other motorists when they cut quickly in front of a large truck at a work zone merge site and then suddenly have to slow down. It is perhaps the most dangerous traffic offense they can commit. This type of behavior in a cramped construction site endangers not only truck and car drivers, but highway workers as well.
Those long lines of orange barrels, constricting rows of concrete walls, and diamond-shaped "Road Work Ahead" signs have popped up again all along the highways and byways we travel every day.
With their arrival comes increased traffic congestion and the temptation by some drivers to take unnecessary and unsafe chances behind the wheel.
"In a work zone, patience behind the wheel has to be Priority One," says Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Assns., the nation's largest trucking industry trade and safety group. "Sooner or later, the work zone will end. A split-second burst of aggressive driving in a cramped construction area just isn't worth the often-tragic consequences."
For safety's sake, and to help motorists, Graves' group polled its team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers for their common sense advice on how to safely navigate work zones:
-- Double your usual following distance. Without it, you won't have time to safely react to warnings or hazards like debris or potholes that suddenly pop out from under the vehicle ahead.
-- Get into the correct lane well in advance.
-- Where traffic is merging into a single lane, be extremely cautious of cars racing to get ahead of slowing traffic. Truck drivers call these unsafe motorists "zippers," after the way they zip in and out of slowing traffic, endangering other motorists who are obeying the work zone signs.
-- Pay close attention to operating construction equipment while in a work zone. You never know their next move, so be ready to stop.
-- Remember, most work zone traffic lanes are narrow and don't have shoulders or emergency lanes due to the use of barrels and concrete barricades.
-- Where a temporary median crossover is used, drivers beware: Uneven or sloped road surfaces can dramatically affect handling and stability.
-- Drivers should report an absence of signs, or poor signage, to the appropriate highway department.
The professional truck drivers say "zippers" likely never think of how they are endangering themselves, their families or other motorists when they cut quickly in front of a large truck at a work zone merge site and then suddenly have to slow down. It is perhaps the most dangerous traffic offense they can commit. This type of behavior in a cramped construction site endangers not only truck and car drivers, but highway workers as well.
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